1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mirror apparatus with a mirror-housing, a base, and a unit bracket fixed to a body of a vehicle. In this specification and claims, top, bottom, left, right, front, and rear are used with the vehicle as the reference.
2) Description of the Related Art
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,814 discloses a mirror apparatus for the vehicle. The disclosed mirror apparatus has a shell housing (12, 112), a mounting flange portion (22, 120), a mirror mounting bracket (14, 11), and a mirror (20). The shell housing, the mounting flage portion, and the mirror mounting bracket are fixed to the door (D) of the vehicle.
A first example of the mirror apparatus is illustrated in FIGS. 1 to 4 and 6 of the above-mentioned patent. In this mirror apparatus, the shell housing and the mounting flange portion are integrated into one body. As a result, this mirror apparatus has following problems. Namely, a masking painting is required if the shell housing and the mounting flange portion have to be painted With different colors. In other words, the so called two-tone color painting is required to be performed. The masking painting is complicated it increases the production cost. In addition, a mold to form an integrated structure of the shell housing and the mounting flange portion becomes complicated, if a neck is to be formed between the shell housing and the mounting flange portion. As a result, the production steps become complicated and even the production cost increases.
Meanwhile, a second example of the mirror apparatus is illustrated in FIGS. 5 and 7 to 10 of the above-mentioned patent. In this mirror apparatus, the mounting flange portion and the mirror mounting bracket are integrated into one body, moreover the shell housing shrouds the mirror mounting bracket. However, because of such a structure, it is impossible to form a neck between the shell housing and the mounting flange portion.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,609 also discloses a mirror apparatus for the vehicle. This mirror apparatus has a shell housing and a mounting flange portion that are constituted discretely with a neck therebetween. This mirror apparatus is rotatable relative to the vehicle body. Moreover, the shell housing, the mounting flange portion, and the mirror mounting bracket are not fixed to the vehicle body.